Tragedy in Norway

Things I wish I could have said to the perpetrator before it happened:
1. You might think that you are waking people up to the threat of Islam. But it's far more likely that they'll wake up to the threat of you and whatever movements you claim to support.
2. Islamic terrorists have planned attacks against Norway. They've planned attacks in a lot of places. I plan to pay off my house and lose 25 pounds within five years, but it doesn't mean it's going to happen. Why not take a wait and see approach? If foreign terrorists do attack, you can say that you were right and more people will listen to you. If they don't, you can rejoice in the fact that your country has been unharmed by the current crisis.
3. Are you really doing this for the reasons that you claim? Do you really want Norway to become a police state? Or are you doing this for the notoriety and the attention? Do you think that 100 years from now, historians will say "Boy, it's a good thing that this guy killed all those people"?
4. Lie face down on the ground, and put your hands behind your head.

Jihad Jane: Why racial and ethnic profiling doesn't work

Terrorists, like all other criminals, are not defined by their physical characteristics but by their actions.

When 19 Arabs hijacked some planes and flew them into buildings, many people thought that targeting them for extra screening would be a good idea. But al Qaeda is an equal opportunity destroyer. If focus is put on screening Middle Eastern passengers, that makes it all the more easier for people like this to get through.

Joe Stack

I hate Joe Stack. Very few people can create sympathy for the IRS, but this guy managed exactly that. Not only did he kill himself and someone else, he also abandoned his family and destroyed their home.

Morality aside, violence against the federal government is stupid. Usually the results are the same: the perpetrator gets killed and everyone else moves on.

If your goal is the abolition of the federal government, then the safest way to go about it is to advocate as many spending programs as possible. The idea would be to produce as much debt as possible, as quickly as possible, so that individuals, foreign governments, and corporations lose confidence in US Treasury bonds.

Like a loving spouse, as much as I criticize the government, I would miss it if it were gone. It's why I nag it about losing weight all the time.

What does a Muslim look like?

There have been some calls for Muslim men to be subject to extra scrutiny when boarding an airplane. Morality aside, this simply is not an effective strategy for detecting or deterring potential terrorists. How do you tell if someone is Muslim?

You could ask them, since most Muslims are quite open about their faith. But I would suspect that a Muslim with hostile intentions would lie about his faith to avoid increased scrutiny.

Skin color is a poor indicator, since there are black, white, and Asian Muslims.

In India, if a male body goes unclaimed, it is given a Muslim burial if the penis is circumcised and Hindu cremation if it has not been cut. Of course this method of determining someone's religious faith would be ineffective in the US.

Putting in a policy that subjects Muslims to additional scrutiny would only serve to alienate peace-loving Muslims.

Christmas Day attack

1. The passengers and crew of a plane bear the ultimate responsibility for the safety of an aircraft. When you are in a sealed container miles above the ground, and somebody is trying to blow up the plane or stab the pilot to death, don't sit around and wait for help to arrive.
2. You have to give the current system at least partial credit for saving the lives of the people on the plane. The use of metal detectors at airports means that would be bombers are prevented from using bombs with metallic content. That means that they can't use switches, wires, shrapnel, or blasting caps. Which in turn means they are forced to awkwardly light a fuse while surround by nosy passengers.
3. Al Qaeda appears to be playing a game in which each attack means that passengers must endure more indignity. After 9/11, you had to throw out your nail clippers. After the Shoe Bomber, you had to start taking off your shoes. Now they are talking about using body scanners. How long before passengers are required to undergo a colonoscopy?
4. I propose an experiment. Let's have a experimental group of flights in which security procedures are changed with every new attack, and a control group of flights in which procedures stay the same. My hypothesis is that the control group will be more popular for passengers, and that the experimental group would have more terrorist incidents. Terrorists like it when their $50 bomb causes us to spend $10 million more on equipment. Also, I'm guessing that squeamish people make more attractive targets.
5. It's important to keep the hazard in perspective. The reason why terrorists attack airplanes is because it gets more headlines than other forms of carnage. People will remember a failed airplane bombing longer than a successful mass shooting.